Medicaid expansion is likely off the table for 2015, in spite of Gov. McCrory’s statements expressing his interest in expanding the program, due to heavy opposition in the state legislature.
Any plan Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration presents for expanding Medicaid would have a tough time getting through the state legislature.
A key House member said Tuesday it would probably be premature to consider expanding Medicaid next year with the future of the federal health care law uncertain.
The Republican-controlled Congress is expected to make changes to the Affordable Care Act, under which states had the option to make more people eligible for the government health insurance program. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case about who is eligible for tax credits under the law.
Rep. Nelson Dollar, a Cary Republican and a legislator who works extensively on Medicaid policies, said state should wait “until we see what fully develops” in Congress and with the court case. The state then “would have a better idea of what the lay of the land is,” he said.
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Senate leader Phil Berger, whose chamber initiated the move last year to reject Medicaid expansion, has not changed his position, said his spokeswoman. Sen. Tommy Tucker, a Republican from Waxhaw, cracked about Medicaid expansion at a legislative health and human services oversight committee meeting Tuesday.
“Everyone’s talking about Medicaid expansion,” Tucker said. “Two are anyway. I’m not one of them.”
Rep. Tim Moore, one of the leading candidates for House Speaker, has said he opposes expansion.
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